Friday, November 14, 2008

It's the first issue of Mode that Betty has responsibility for approving while Daniel and the rest attend an Editors Retreat. But right after giving the word to ship out the issue, a massive tornado strikes the heartland making Mode's "Fashion Storm" cover look heartless.

Up at the retreat, Claire gets the bright idea to yank Willie's chain by having all cellphones and PDAs confiscated so that the participants can focus on matters at hand. While Daniel's out trying to "focus," a woman tumbles out of a tree nearly knocking him over. The spunky blonde named Molly turns out to be Connor's fiancee. So while Willie is pining for Connor, Daniel develops a crush on Connor's girl.

Looks like a love quadrangle is forming here...

Since Betty cannot reach Daniel on his cellphone, she decides to track him down at the retreat. "I smell pluck!" Marc says and instantly invites himself along. Not to be left out, Amanda joins the group who take Cliff's car upstate. Betty is freaking out because time is running out to stop the issue from hitting the stands. "Easy doesy, fuzzy wuzzy!" Marc reprimands.

When Amanda finds a receipt for wedding rings in Cliff's glove compartment, Marc freaks and drives off the road, damaging Cliff's car. But the unstoppable Betty finds another way to get a message to Daniel: she hires a skywriter to write "Daniel Call Betty" in the sky.

Her celebration at adverting a PR disaster is short-lived when the offensive issue hits the newsstands despite her efforts. It's a calculated ploy by Daniel and Willie who use the controversy to sell issues. The plan backfires when Betty is blamed for the snafu, earning her the nickname of "Tornado Girl" and all the hate mail she can handle.

Daniel is conflicted about the turn of events, but Willie handles it with her usual cold-bloodedness: "Taking the blame is what the little people are for," she tells Daniel.

Betty can't even find respite from the controversy at home: Justin sports a "Tornado Girl" t-shirt explaining, "There just hasn't been a t-shirt worthy scandal since Winona had her troubles!"

Hilda's weathering a storm of her own--her beauty salon permit was denied. She and Betty confront Councilman Archie Rodriguez (akaThe Karate Kid) who tells them there's nothing he can do about it. He manages to find a loophole for Hilda, however, if she sells products, she can qualify as a "boutique."

Marc pulls Betty aside to tell her, "Not all birds fly south in the winter" and other cryptic comments. He directs her to Phil on the loading dock if she wants to find out how the Mode issue ended up being shipped out. Phil tries to avoid her questions telling her, "You're like a gnat in glasses!" but finally he caves and admits that he wasn't told NOT to ship the issues, he was directed to SHIP them.

Betty confronts Daniel who apologizes for her taking the heat, but that's not good enough for Betty. He grows a pair at the press conference and takes the fall for the controversy and promises to donate all the profits from the issue to a tornado relief fund.

The Office revolved around Michael's big international business trip to Winnepeg. Canada.

He brings Andy along as a translator--and Oscar. He's especially excited about the hotel Concierge because in Canada, a Concierge is the equivalent of a geisha.

Um, yeah right...

Meanwhile, Ryan tries to flirt with an uninterested Kelly. "This looks like where I'll do my push-ups every day," he tells her. She tells him she's with Darryl, but moments later the two are locked in a passionate embrace. Ryan convinces her to text Darryl and break up. Darryl's response: "It's cool." At that, Ryan cools a bit as well. He didn't seem quite as interested when it turned out Darryl wasn't upset. But in the end he says, "I realized that for whatever reason, I just couldn't do better than Kelly."

Kelly takes this as a compliment.

While Michael hooks up with the Concierge (Hmm, maybe they ARE the equivalents of a geisha in Canada!), Andy and Oscar get drunk on Long Island Iced Teas--which apparently are much stronger in Canada. Oscar asks Andy what in the world he sees in Angela. He is shocked to find out that Andy hasn't had sex with Angela yet, and convinces him to call her. Andy's too drunk to notice that Dwight is in the background while he drunk-dials his fiancee.

The next day, he has totally forgotten that he called until Oscar reminds him. His punishment: a return to first base. "What's first base with Angela?" Oscar asks. "I get to kiss her forehead," Andy replies.

In Jim and Pam news: the writers tried to fake us out that Pam would have to stay in New York City another 3 months to make up a class she failed. Everyone in the office goes from being psyched for Jim, to commiserating with him. Of course at the end of the episode, Pam was waiting for Jim as he left the office.

Aw!

Leave it to Dwight to normalize the moment by handing her a sheaf of papers to make copy of.